1. Gwendoline Maud Syrie Maugham was a leading British interior decorator of the 1920s and 1930s who popularised rooms decorated entirely in white.
13 Facts About Syrie Maugham
1. 2.
Syrie Maugham was the daughter of Thomas John Barnardo, the founder of the Barnardo's charity for destitute children, and his wife, Sarah Louise "Syrie" Elmslie.
3.
Syrie Maugham's Irish-born father had converted at age 16 to Protestant evangelicalism and believed in daily Bible reading, obedience, strict punctuality and the forgoing of worldly pleasures including drinking, smoking and visiting the theatre.
4.
Syrie Maugham is best-remembered for the all-white music room at her house at 213 King's Road in London.
5.
Syrie Maugham charged high prices and could be very dictatorial with her clients and employees.
6.
Syrie Maugham popularised mirrored screens, indirect lighting, and plump furniture upholstered in white.
7.
Syrie Maugham preferred wood furniture to be pickled or stripped, painted, or finished with a secret craquelure technique.
8.
Syrie Maugham continued decorating, but had already completed her most famous and successful work.
9.
Syrie Maugham's clients included Wallis Simpson, Marie Tempest, Oveta Culp Hobby, DeWitt Wallace, Elsa Schiaparelli, Capt.
10.
Syrie Maugham redecorated The Glen, Scottish home of Christopher Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner, who hated the existing Scottish Baronial style of the house.
11.
Syrie Maugham was 22 and he was 48, and they married soon after.
12.
The Wellcomes' marriage was not happy, and Syrie Maugham reportedly had numerous affairs, including with the department store magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge, Brig.
13.
Syrie Wellcome and W Somerset Maugham married in 1917 in New Jersey, although he was predominantly homosexual and would spend much of his marriage apart from his wife.